tag:www.netgaincom.com,2010:/blog/telecomexpense/1 2010-02-08T18:39:15Z Acquiring, provisioning and managing telecom services are challenges all businesses face. Here are tips and insights that will help you save time, save money, and simplify day to day administrative tasks. Movable Type 3.31 tag:www.netgaincom.com,2010:/blog/telecomexpense//1.49 2010-02-08T18:36:58Z 2010-02-08T18:39:15Z

Section 179 of the tax code is set to completely expire in 2011, unless Congress extends it, possibly with enhancements. What is Section 179? This is a provision in the tax code that allows businesses to take huge deductions on...

Peter Callowhill Section 179 of the tax code is set to completely expire in 2011, unless Congress extends it, possibly with enhancements. What is Section 179? This is a provision in the tax code that allows businesses to take huge deductions on purchased or leased equipment and software as soon as these items are put to work. For tax year 2010, a business that spends less than $530,000 a year on qualified equipment can write-off up to $134,000 in 2010. There's talk in Washington by the Obama Administration to enhance Section 179 with a 50% bonus depreciation, which could add even more savings to your bottom line. Because Section 179 works differently according to how a corporation is structured, you need to check with your accountant for the specific details of IRS Section 179 and its application for your business in 2010. NetGain will then help you implement a purchase plan that will offer the most bang for the buck, while maximizing your tax write-off. tag:www.netgaincom.com,2009:/blog//1.48 2009-11-09T18:09:05Z 2010-02-08T18:35:37Z

Are you aware of when your equipment lease expires? Some leasing companies do not send out any notice when the lease expires, while others only send a simple notification that can be easy to overlook. After lease expiration, you could...

Peter Callowhill Are you aware of when your equipment lease expires? Some leasing companies do not send out any notice when the lease expires, while others only send a simple notification that can be easy to overlook. After lease expiration, you could be making payments for months or years after the actual term expires. The additional payments are NOT applied to the buyout of the system. Likewise, so-called 'evergreen' clauses in network service contracts could cost you thousands of dollars. The reason: services and rates renew automatically for the same term unless you contact the carrier 90 days in advance of term expiration. Review your contracts now and if you cannot find them, call your rep and ask when your existing equipment leases or service contracts expire and if there is an evergreen clause. Get the response in writing. tag:www.netgaincom.com,2009:/blog/telecomexpense//1.42 2009-10-30T04:54:49Z 2009-10-30T04:59:40Z

When your telephone invoice shows up at the office, it typically ends up on someone's desk and a separate set of data must be fished out of a file to determine how the costs get split-up. After using a calculator...

Peter Callowhill When your telephone invoice shows up at the office, it typically ends up on someone's desk and a separate set of data must be fished out of a file to determine how the costs get split-up. After using a calculator to add up the costs for each department and sub-unit, then applying the percentages, the results go to the Accounting Department, where further manual manipulation occurs. With iTEMize 3.0, you can automate the distribution of costs in numerous ways and to any level of granularity, all the way down to each location, business unit, cell phone or project code - even by line or service. Using your organization's pre-defined allocation percentages, iTEMize sorts through the details and assigns the charges to appropriate cost centers. This automated process eliminates the tedious, time-consuming and error-prone chore of manually distributing these charges each month, while freeing staff for other priorities. You decide how costs will be distributed, and changes can be made at any time. An Allocation Report is generated for Accounting, or for other executive uses, further eliminating manual processes. The allocation capabilities of iTEMize can be one of the most important tools for managing costs. It is fast, error free, and provides easily digestible insight into the total telecom spend. tag:www.netgaincom.com,2009:/blog/telecomexpense//1.43 2009-10-15T15:00:00Z 2010-01-06T15:38:23Z

As users continue to demand instant access to information anytime, anywhere, you may have bumped into some performance problems or slow response times on your network. Sure, you can add more bandwidth, but that gets expensive. A better way of...

Peter Callowhill As users continue to demand instant access to information anytime, anywhere, you may have bumped into some performance problems or slow response times on your network. Sure, you can add more bandwidth, but that gets expensive. A better way of dealing with the performance problem is by establishing a Quality of Service for each application. The routers and switches, which control the flow of data on your network, direct data over the best paths. They can also look at a packet of information and see that it is for a phone call or a video conference and give it priority over routine data applications that are not so sensitive to delay, jitter, and packet loss. By setting QoS you can ensure that your different types of communications will run smoothly. It's all about providing your business with more control over its communications rather than just hoping that everything will work out okay. tag:www.netgaincom.com,2009:/blog/telecomexpense//1.41 2009-09-29T12:41:42Z 2009-09-29T15:42:18Z

With the cost of mobile services consuming an ever greater percentage of telecom spend, organizations can count on yet another long list of charges every month that are difficult to substantiate and manage. Typically, mobile costs are spread throughout the...

Peter Callowhill

15% of mobile devices -- 148 -- were found to be missing a negotiated discount.

13% of mobile devices -- 134 -- were found to have excessive texting usage.

20% of mobile devices -- 196 -- were on sub-optimal plans, providing a significant opportunity for rate plan optimization.

iTEMize offers a comprehensive solution that brings Fixed and Mobile expenses under management control, enables organizations to save even more money through rate plan optimization, while being able to determine the ROI of their mobility deployments. In addition, iTEMize establishes clear ownership of the mobile environment, enabling enterprises to get the most value from their technology investments. ]]> tag:www.netgaincom.com,2009:/blog/telecomexpense//1.44 2009-09-15T15:00:00Z 2010-01-06T15:43:43Z

MPLS VPNs are increasingly displacing Frame Relay networks, according to Forrester Research. Forrester found that 48% of businesses surveyed are using VPNs for WAN connectivity between their locations, compared with 23% that use Frame Relay for the same purpose. Indications...

Peter Callowhill MPLS VPNs are increasingly displacing Frame Relay networks, according to Forrester Research. Forrester found that 48% of businesses surveyed are using VPNs for WAN connectivity between their locations, compared with 23% that use Frame Relay for the same purpose. Indications are that MPLS could become the technology of choice for VPN users. Why the shift to MPLS? Several reasons. . . MPLS VPNs provide the means to securely extend the reach of applications, even voice, with the same reliability as the PSTN. Although Frame Relay will continue for niche applications, it is expensive to add connections, especially if the network must be fully meshed to achieve any-to-any connectivity. The more economical way to realize a fully meshed network is to use MPLS. Using existing equipment, full mesh connectivity can be achieved with a single connection from each site to the service provider's network. The provider takes care of the routing changes to join all your locations together. If you have point-to-point connections, DSL and an IP-VPN between locations, you can greatly simplify your network and save money by standardizing on MPLS. A network assessment will reveal whether this is a worthwhile strategy for your organization. tag:www.netgaincom.com,2009:/blog/telecomexpense//1.40 2009-08-31T15:00:00Z 2009-09-01T15:49:23Z

Benchmarking is the process of developing a point of reference against which something can be measured. It is a useful tool for determining how your company stacks up against peers in the industry so you can bring various aspects of...

Peter Callowhill Benchmarking is the process of developing a point of reference against which something can be measured. It is a useful tool for determining how your company stacks up against peers in the industry so you can bring various aspects of your business up to accepted standards of performance. Let's take telecom expense management . . . Many companies do not know if their telecom costs are too high, which may remove the incentive to check for better deals. This puts them at a severe disadvantage when negotiating with carriers. As a "best practice," benchmarking can be performed from the carrier data that is extracted, aggregated, normalized, and presented by the right TEM solution, and then applied against market data. This gives you further insight into your company's telecom spend and provides a better indication of what its telecom costs should be and how much could be saved by negotiating better deals. Benchmarking is another tool companies can use to go beyond the initial cost savings uncovered by a TEM application. In one case, a company found additional potential savings of 11% on a total wireline spend of $650,000 per month, equating to first-year savings of $858,000. For businesses that already use TEM to control costs, benchmarking demonstrates the ongoing value of the application. It not only leverages the investment they already have in the solution, it improves the ROI of their technology assets. tag:www.netgaincom.com,2009:/blog/telecomexpense//1.45 2009-08-17T15:00:00Z 2010-01-06T15:50:09Z

For years industry pundits have been promising that enterprises would one day be able to use a single pipe to the carrier cloud for all of their business traffic, including VoIP. Until then, they had to make do with VoIP...

Peter Callowhill For years industry pundits have been promising that enterprises would one day be able to use a single pipe to the carrier cloud for all of their business traffic, including VoIP. Until then, they had to make do with VoIP trunking between their premises systems. Although this helped lower toll costs between office locations, these VoIP islands had no IP connectivity to the outside world. Consequently, enterprises still had to maintain separate circuits to the public network. Today, the single-pipe vision is becoming a reality due to the wide acceptance and implementation of the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). SIP trunks are used for call control and routing, enabling enterprises to create a single, pure IP connection to carrier clouds. This is achieved through the use of 'proxies' at each end of the trunk whereby an enterprise SIP proxy peers with a carrier SIP proxy. Voice is simply layered on top of the network as another IP application, traversing routers, switches, and border elements. SIP sets up and tears down voice calls over this logical trunk. Calls are handed off to a PSTN gateway for the last mile if they are bound for traditional phone connections. For enterprises, SIP networking means reducing the monthly recurring cost of separate PSTN and data circuits to the premises. This also eliminates unnecessary TDM T1 interfaces on the IP PBX, since hundreds of VoIP calls can be supported through a single T1 interface. Today, enterprises can leverage SIP for maximum cost savings and network efficiency. tag:www.netgaincom.com,2009:/blog/telecomexpense//1.39 2009-07-29T03:03:20Z 2009-07-31T03:19:32Z

Competitive pressures are causing carriers and resellers to become more aggressive in their service pricing. When the first invoice arrives, however, customers may experience sticker shock. The savings they thought they were getting may dissipate with the addition of hefty...

Peter Callowhill Competitive pressures are causing carriers and resellers to become more aggressive in their service pricing. When the first invoice arrives, however, customers may experience sticker shock. The savings they thought they were getting may dissipate with the addition of hefty surcharges that were never revealed to them when the deal was presented. The effect of surcharges can be a significant increase in the total invoice amount. This is like carriers in the airline industry charging passengers extra fees for everything from baggage to blankets and aisle seats to bathroom usage. It all adds up to real money. The escalating trend of padding invoices with surcharges shows the legths many service providers use to portray themselves as price competitive. They only detail their main pricing elements to win the business, then attempt to get it all back by charging the customer extra fees that were never mentioned in the original price quote. The right TEM soution offers businesses the ability to identify new surcharges and add-on costs, providing automated discovery and documentation to challenge these junk fees and tracking dispute resolution. The experience of one business shows the negative impact of surcharges: It identified and questioned Carrier Cost Recovery and Regulatory Administrative fees that appeared on its bill. These fees amount to over $1,200 on the monthly invoice, which is a 5.25% increase on the overall bill from that carrier. To minimize surcharges, businesses should confirm with the service provider what charges will appear on their invoice and find out the remedy for non-compliance. The remedy should be written into the contract and the invoices monitored for compliance. When an anomaly is spotted, the carrier should be challenged on it and the issue should be pressed to a resolution. The dispute resolution tracking capability of the TEM solution makes this process easy. tag:www.netgaincom.com,2009:/blog/telecomexpense//1.46 2009-07-15T15:00:00Z 2010-01-06T15:53:23Z

All-in-one security appliances that combine firewall/VPN capabilities with intrusion prevention and virus protection seem all the rage these days, particularly among midsize companies. Just watch out when you add VoIP to your traffic mix. It turns out that VoIP can...

Peter Callowhill All-in-one security appliances that combine firewall/VPN capabilities with intrusion prevention and virus protection seem all the rage these days, particularly among midsize companies. Just watch out when you add VoIP to your traffic mix. It turns out that VoIP can experience a 10 - 50 percent performance hit when the traffic is forced through one of these appliances. Not only are the voice packets being examined more closely, but the box is forced to work harder as it attempts to process lots of smaller voice packets. As you know, delay is the arch enemy of voice, so you don't want to add to this problem. I'm encouraged by the development of acceleration technology that speeds VoIP processing to ensure the best possible voice quality, despite deeper packet inspection to ferret out viruses. Vendors are also adding QoS to their appliances so that voice gets priority treatment. Look for these capabilities so you don't have to sacrifice performance for security. The aggravation saved is priceless! tag:www.netgaincom.com,2009:/blog/telecomexpense//1.38 2009-07-01T02:47:51Z 2009-07-31T02:59:27Z

Some TEM solutions have Business Analytics capabilities that can help organizations identify patterns in accumulated data. This can provide key insights that help drive fact-based decision making and uncover additional cost savings. Business Analytics offers businesses the ability to transform...

Peter Callowhill Some TEM solutions have Business Analytics capabilities that can help organizations identify patterns in accumulated data. This can provide key insights that help drive fact-based decision making and uncover additional cost savings. Business Analytics offers businesses the ability to transform information assets into true competitive advantage. Along the way, they can obtain actionable reporting of telecom costs, generate solid documentation for dispute resolution, and maintain the integrity of their telecom budget... All necessary for competing effectively in the global marketplace. Even seemingly legitimate service provider charges may actually turn out costing businesses more than they need to pay. Without the means to automatically discover billing anomalies, probe deeper into the data, and trace historical patterns, a business often leaves itself exposed to unnecessary financial risk. One financial institution experienced the powerful impact and major benefits of Business Analytics: The service provider had double billed mileage charges on multiple circuits for many years, resulting in overpayments totaling one million dollars. By discovering and then thoroughly documenting this long-term trend, the bank was able to secure a $1 Million credit on that account, stop the unnecessary billing, free up capital, and restore confidence in its budget process. tag:www.netgaincom.com,2009:/blog/telecomexpense//1.47 2009-06-15T15:00:00Z 2010-01-06T15:59:52Z

As more mission-critical business applications become available over IP networks, there is increasing need for equipment-based restoration/protection processes to keep access links at each location continuously available. One way to do this is by implementing the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP)...

Peter Callowhill As more mission-critical business applications become available over IP networks, there is increasing need for equipment-based restoration/protection processes to keep access links at each location continuously available. One way to do this is by implementing the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) version 4 at your router, which balances the traffic between your location and two local IP service providers. BGP chooses the single best path for reaching either destination based on user-defined metrics. Once the path is selected, all the traffic goes out over that path. An alternative to per-destination load balancing is per-packet load balancing, whereby individual packets are distributed evenly between the two links. In either scenario, if one of the links goes down, the other link takes all of the traffic. Implementing BGP4 to achieve ‘dual homing’ resiliency of your enterprise access to the internet, while a prudent endeavor, is not for the do-it-yourselfer. As with all high-reward efforts, proper configuration and maintenance of the Border Gateway Protocol between yourself and multiple ISPs should be done with planning and the assistance of trusted IT professionals with proven experience. tag:www.netgaincom.com,2009:/blog/telecomexpense//1.37 2009-05-27T22:01:02Z 2009-07-30T22:22:11Z

Most companies do not have the time to proactively find the anomalies in their telecom bill that result from carrier mistakes. But the necessity of doing so is real and the money that can be saved is significant. The right...

Peter Callowhill Most companies do not have the time to proactively find the anomalies in their telecom bill that result from carrier mistakes. But the necessity of doing so is real and the money that can be saved is significant. The right TEM solution helps you find billing anomalies that result from carrier mistakes, the overwhelming majority of which are in the carriers' favor. Human error often goes into bill preparation, pointing to the need for automation to call out errors that may be embedded in voluminous invoices. The impact of billing anomalies on one tax-exempt organization was particularly onerous until it decided to take control by implementing a TEM solution. On a regular basis, the automation process now red-flags an average of $1,500 per month in erroneous tax charges due to continuous billing mistakes by carriers. Of note is that the organization also saves in excess of 20 hours per week in labor from the efficiencies gained through the automation capability of the TEM solution. tag:www.netgaincom.com,2009:/blog/telecomexpense//1.36 2009-04-30T03:08:32Z 2009-07-30T03:22:08Z

Failure to root out anomalies hiding in your invoices can inflate costs and bust your budget. TEM software protects your budget by verifying when certain charges are erroneous and gives you the substantiation you need to mount a successful challenge...

Peter Callowhill Failure to root out anomalies hiding in your invoices can inflate costs and bust your budget. TEM software protects your budget by verifying when certain charges are erroneous and gives you the substantiation you need to mount a successful challenge against offending service providers. Not all variances in telco invoices are legitimate, and all bear further examination. For example, the validation process revealed that one company was being charged for three DS-3 circuits that had ostensibly been disconnected two months earlier. Using the TEM software, a billing dispute was opened with the carrier to recover the money. TEM software also provides the validation necessary to proceed with recommendations for new service offerings that may better fit your needs. tag:www.netgaincom.com,2009:/blog/telecomexpense//1.35 2009-03-25T21:50:57Z 2009-07-30T03:03:22Z

The careful scrutiny of telecom invoices can reveal and extract hidden variations (i.e. anomalies) which are often a source of incorrect charges. Businesses of all types and sizes can reduce their telecom costs up to 20% (or even higher). Saving...

Peter Callowhill Profit Increase     10% The expense reduction capabilities of TEM software not only generate new profits, it adds value to a company, shifting telecom spending from an expense center to a profit center that justifies targeted funding. ]]>